


should've picked any kind of support

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: Week Three: Talents [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Autistic Adrien Agreste, Fluff, Friendship, Gaming, Gen, miracuclass, supportive miracuclass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-23 18:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20344780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: "Hey, Adrien, wait up!"Adrien stops and turns immediately, frankly eager for any chance to delay going home.  He'd really rather stay at school for lunch but Father is still strict about that.Max catches up to him, doubled over and panting, only straightening up in time for for Kim to amble up behind him and clap him on the back, nearly sending him right back to his hunched over position.  "Hey- I know you're busy, usually, but-""He finished the game!" Kim interrupts, grinning wildly.  "And we're gonna have a tournament to celebrate!"Adrien brightens immediately, only to deflate when he glances back at the waiting car.  "Sorry, I have to go home for lunch."





	should've picked any kind of support

**Author's Note:**

> for the 'gaming' prompt for adrienaugreste, thanks shinobicyrus!

"Hey, Adrien, wait up!"

Adrien stops and turns immediately, frankly eager for any chance to delay going home. He'd really rather stay at school for lunch but Father is still strict about that. 

Max catches up to him, doubled over and panting, only straightening up in time for for Kim to amble up behind him and clap him on the back, nearly sending him right back to his hunched over position. "Hey- I know you're busy, usually, but-"

"He finished the game!" Kim interrupts, grinning wildly. "And we're gonna have a tournament to celebrate!"

Adrien brightens immediately, only to deflate when he glances back at the waiting car. "Sorry, I have to go home for lunch."

"Oh, I know." Max adjusts his glasses, not seeming to notice Adrien's wince at that. "The tournament's not _ today_. Your schedule is the busiest, so Markov and I checked yours first and then cross-referenced it with everyone else’s. The optimum time for the tournament is at 15:27 on Thursday, because there's a period where 93% of us will be available for times ranging from half an hour all the way to seven and a quarter hours."

Adrien blinks, trying to recall his schedule for the week himself, and realises that he's fairly certain Max is right. While he's reasonably sure he's supposed to be practising piano at that time, his actual plans had definitely involved transforming and leaping out the window. "You really put a lot of thought into this."

Max looks away, crossing his arms across his chest as Markov hovers closer to him. "Well... after everything that happened when I was looking for playtesters, I thought it best to plan ahead. The tournament is at Marinette's place on Thursday. We still don't know if everyone will make it, but everyone's invited."

"It's at Marinette's?" Adrien asks, curiously, doing his best to ignore Plagg's quietly hissed "Tell him _ yes _ already!" from inside his shirt.

"Marinette and her parents were invaluable during beta-testing," Max confirms, looking back at him now. "They offered to host a tournament."

"They also offered to bake for it," Kim adds, looking hopeful. "I know you've had their food before, it'd be worth it just for that, but Max also made a really awesome game! It's gonna be a blast! Do you think you can make it?"

Adrien grins, tentatively, trying very hard not to react to Plagg poking him. "I think I can, actually. Um-" He frowns, dropping his gaze and rubbing the back of his neck. "At least, if no one lets my father know about it?"

"We won't," Kim assures him immediately, reaching out to clap Adrien on the back hard enough that he nearly staggers. Only all the practice he's had keeping his feet as Chat Noir keeps him upright. "Don't want your schedule to suddenly fill in."

Adrien smiles weakly, because he's been trying to convince himself that's been accidental. It's been becoming more and more noticeable, though, that every time he thinks there's a break built into his schedule it mysteriously fills in as soon as he tries to make plans with any of his friends. "Thanks, guys."

“Think nothing of it,” Max says. “Just be sure you bring your A-Game.’”

As far as Adrien can tell, nearly all of the class plans on going. Chloe's not, because "He didn't even bother to include Queen _ Bee,_" which Adrien privately thinks might be a good point but he's not sure he wants to tell Chloe that. Sabrina's not going, because Chloe isn't going.

Everyone else is, and Alix and Juleka ask if their brothers can come too.

Marinette shrugs when they ask her that, though she's starting to look a little overwhelmed. "The more the merrier, I guess?"

Alya wraps her arm around Marinette's shoulders, leaning her weight onto her friend and crowing, "That's the spirit, Marinette!"

Nino frowns, though, and scratches the back of his head. "Hey, are you sure? It's a lot of people already, dude, if you're runnin' out of space you can tell them no."

Alix looks taken aback, but rallies immediately. "Sorry, Marinette, I didn't even think of that! My brother can always play it another time, I'll just tell them you're keeping it to classmates this time."

"...I don't want to leave anyone out," Marinette starts, hesitantly, and Alya leans on her harder.

"She wants to say yes to Luka," Alya says, strangely smug, and Marinette makes a strangled noise.

Juleka shrugs. "Cool, I'll let him know."

Alix shrugs, too, but says, "You actually hang out with Luka sometimes, that's fair. I don't even think my brother knows who most of our class _is_, he really only pays attention when he's at the museum."

"That doesn't make me feel better about not inviting him!" Marinette wails, tugging away from Alya, who loses her balance and catches herself on Kim as he walks past. 

Adrien is starting to see Nino's point about this being a lot of people for Marinette's parents to have over.

He wants, _ badly,_ to offer his room as a meeting place instead, but there's no chance that will work. He still feels guilty over it, because there'd be _ more _ than enough space for everyone.

It's not until he goes to Marinette's (after transforming, jumping out the window, and letting his transformation go when he was close enough to the bakery that there was minimal chance he'd be spotted) that he realises that the space was never the point. 

He's not the first one there, but he's not the last either. Alix, Alya, Kim are all draped over the couch in positions that don't look comfortable- Alix is actually upside down and most of the way onto the floor, holding her controller above her head and cheering- and the nearest chair's been claimed by Ivan and Mylene, who don't entirely fit on it. 

Marinette herself is on the floor with Max, angling her controller to reflect every movement her character makes, biting her lip in concentration as Max fights her with his chosen character- Timebreaker, Adrien realises, which _ maybe _ explains why Alix is cheering?

"Hey, you upgraded," he says, delighted, when he looks at the screen. It's the same basic game underneath the patches, but now it goes up to four players and has even more playable characters. 

Marinette squeaks and nearly misses her next dodge, but reacts just in time to counter Max's ultimate. 

Adrien eyes the silhouettes for the unlockable characters and can't stop the delighted grin spreading across his face. "Wait, you _ did _ add Queen Bee, didn't you?"

Max sniffs, narrowing his eyes as Marinette's chosen character- Copycat- comes barrelling after him with a flurry of moves that Adrien definitely does _ not _ remember Theo ever using. "We'll all find out what the unlockable characters are when we unlock them."

"Marinette already unlocked Carapace," Nino calls from over by the window, where he's happily accepting a slice of cake from Marinette's father. A second later, he hands him a second slice and nods towards Adrien.

Nino weaves through the pile of their classmates and hands both slices off to Adrien. "And her dad unlocked Rena Rouge a while ago, too, so- yeah, he definitely did include Queen Bee, he just didn't tell Chloe."

"Hey, if you think about it, Chloe's really in the game more than anyone else," Nathaniel says, snickering. 

Nino waves Adrien further into the room, towards one of the very few open spots left to sit. "Nath and Ivan keep having Copycat versus Antibug matches."

Adrien knows he'd rather play as Ladybug or himself, but that's still pretty amusing. 

No one wants to stop playing or leave, and they end up having several tournaments instead of just the one. Alix splits them up into groups by asking who's eaten yet and then shoving everyone into one group or another based on whether they have and what it was (and then Marinette's parents, who've ended up in Adrien's group, promptly offer food to everyone in the 'hasn't eaten yet' group).

Marinette and Max tie for the first tournament, to no one's surprise. Kim wins the next one, to everyone's surprise, and then Adrien wins, and then Marinette wins again.

By then people have finally started trickling out, but the room's still crowded and loud. It's overwhelming, at first, but Adrien notices early that occasionally Marinette or Nino get up and leave the room for a few minutes.

Hesitantly, he follows Nino the second time and finds him downstairs in the bakery, on the floor behind one of the displays and studying his phone intently.

Adrien picks his way gingerly over to his friend. "Are we supposed to be in here?"

Nino startles but then looks up at him, a little bit guiltily. "Um- yeah. S'something me an' Marinette worked out when we were kids."

Adrien hesitates until Nino gestures to the floor beside him, and then Adrien takes a seat gratefully and tries not to too obviously inch closer to Nino. The living room might be loud and crowded but there's definitely something Adrien _ enjoys _about how comfortable most of his classmates are climbing over and around each other. They don't do it with Ivan or Nathaniel, but everyone else has been casually shoulder-checking each other for their turns or exchanging high fives. 

Nino shifts a little uncomfortably, looking away from him and back down at his phone again. "Ivan might show up down here too, actually. Um. Sometimes it's a little too much, so, you know, since Marinette's parents closed the bakery early today-" He shrugs. "Usually I'll just go out to the balcony with Marinette once in a while."

Adrien blinks. "Why?"

Nino gives him an odd look. "Getting overwhelmed is... bad, dude?" He shrugs into Adrien's side and nods down at his phone. "Alya and Marinette are gonna come down here in a minute, too, for a break."

"Alya?" Adrien frowns. "Alya looked fine when I left?"

Nino shrugs. "I mean I think she's more coming to stay with Marinette, but everyone gets overwhelmed, dude. I mean, some of us more than others, that's why the only one sitting with Ivan is Mylene, but-" He stops again, brow furrowing. "Okay, you should already know this."

"Know what?" Alya calls from the doorway, scrambling down with a plate in her hand and Marinette right behind her.

Alya slides behind the counter and props herself upright across from Nino, greeting him with a hand on his shoulder and by offering the plate full of palmiers, leaving Marinette to settle across from Adrien.

"Getting-" Nino nods around at their little island of quiet. "The getting away from everyone for a minute thing!"

"Yeah, I think Kim went out your window at some point, I'm pretty sure he remembered to come back this time," Alya tells Marinette.

Marinette shrugs, though she doesn't look up from where she's fidgeting with a bracelet. Nino does that a lot, too, but Adrien's never noticed Marinette wearing a bracelet before. When he looks closer, he thinks she's actually wearing one of Nino's.

He's starting to feel really lost. That's not _ unusual _ for him, but he's never liked it.

"Oh." Alya rests more easily against the side of the counter. "Come on, Nino, why would he know that?"

Adrien glances hesitantly at Nino and flinches a little at the frustration on his friend's face. 

Nino leans on him harder, though, as he insists, "'Cause it's important! 'Cause he needs it, too!"

Marinette looks up at that, just in time for Adrien to feel himself flush. Suddenly looking both much calmer and much more worried, Marinette leans forward to plant a hand on his shoulder, studying him in a way that Adrien _ should _ be used to but that makes him start to shrink in on himself this time.

Marinette lets go and leans back right away, but then Adrien misses the pressure of her hand. It had been nearly exactly the same gesture Ladybug uses with him all the time and he can't help but associate it with reassurance now. "Adrien, it's not all of us, but we're not the only ones in the class that get really overwhelmed sometimes." She nods at Nino. "We knew about each other as kids, so if we were together anywhere we always made sure there was somewhere we could take a break if we needed to. We kinda realised after a while that Ivan and Nath needed that, too, so-" She shrugs. "That's enough of us that the whole class kind of does it? Mme. Mendeliev doesn't really let us, but even if you ever, like, need a minute in Mme. Bustier's class, if you just let her know that she'll find you a place to kinda... not calm down, but I guess just take a minute."

"Do they not let you do that at shoots, dude?" Nino asks, obviously still upset.

Adrien blinks. "No, we're supposed to stay on schedule."

"Your new photographer keeps letting other people into your photo shoots," Alya points out immediately. "Pretty sure he'd let you have a break if you needed one."

"I'll... ask him," Adrien says, slowly, feeling out the edges of the idea, feeling Plagg purr at his answer. Adrien glances up at a victory shout from upstairs. "Right now I think I do want to go rejoin everyone else."

Alya and Nino scramble up first, but both pause to offer Adrien and Marinette hands up. 

Taking a break really did give him more energy to rejoin the others. Adrien follows his friends back into the room eagerly, to more shouts of victory, and looks forward to staying as long as he can possibly get away with.

**Author's Note:**

> title is from the living tombstone's 'overwatch: no mercy!'


End file.
